Staying close to home in January

With erratic January weather, sometime mild, sometime cold, we did not go on any trip but stayed close to home.  Last Tuesday morning we found out that our cat had pushed our telephone off the counter and it was broken.   We meant to go out and buy a new telephone until we saw a weather warning on television - snow was coming soon.  Indeed by 11:00 am on that Tuesday, January 28th, 2014, the first flakes were falling, so we stayed home.  Many people in and around Atlanta as well as all school children left early to go home and many did not make it there until Wednesday or even today, Thursday.

I had almost finished writing this post but stopped to take some pictures through our windows - as it was very cold and snowing.  Yesterday, Wednesday, we went walking in the afternoon to take photos of our rare snow - the last snow was three years ago, and it lasted three days only.  I'll show my new snow pictures in my next post, but below is a photo of our snowy road.

At the beginning of the month we drove to Johns Creek, GA, to a French bakery I had noticed on the Internet.  It is called "Sweet Tentations."  (Click on collage twice to enlarge.)

We had lunch there.  I selected the classic "Bouchee a la Reine" and salad, and my husband the stuffed avocado and salad.

My dish was very good but my husband said that his was a bit blend.  His taste bud is not as strong as it used to be so he likes food with a sharper taste.  I talked (in French) with the baker and his wife - they are from Toulon, France.  I also looked at several Paris Match magazines while eating my lunch.  We did buy a Galette des Rois to take home.  The galette was especially tasty, and my husband had the trinket (feve) in his piece of galette - this time it was a tiny fireman.

Apart from the Tour de France in July, I do not watch much television (too many books to read) but I like to watch Downton Abbey.  The series started again in January and watching Daisy with her new mixer reminded me that my daughter had given me a new mixer for Christmas.

My mixer, which had been a wedding present in 1967, was starting to show its age - it had given me great service for 46 years ... My old Hamilton Beach mixer is on the left and my new red Cuisinart mixer on the right.

Cranberries were still at the supermarket so I made a couple of cranberry-apple, and cranberry-cherry cakes.  I like to add spirits in my cooking, so I baked one with raisins soaked in Bourbon, and the other had dry cherries marinated in a Danish liquor called Cherry Heering.  Both were quite good.

I enjoy reading recipes like the lady below, but then I usually make my own versions - by adding a little bit of this, a little bit of that.  I try to write down my versions so that I won't forget them (in case they turn out to be delicious ...)

Nina Kupka by Frantisek Kupka, Czech 1871-1957

When the weather was quite cold I made a thick lentil soup with little French lentils, some lamb stew meat, kale, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes, and herbs - what I had on hand.  It turned out nicely served with a small salad on the side.

When it turns cold we also like to go to the movies.  We saw five films and part of a sixth one.  We saw Philomena, marvelously played by Judy Dench.  We also watched Inside Llewyn Davis, American Hustle, August: Osage County and Saving Mr. Banks - about Walt Disney and the author of the book Mary Poppins, P. L. Travers.  We started to watch The Wolf of Wall Street but left after about 1/2 hour.  It is a 3-hour long movie about a stockbroker's greed, drug use, trophy wives and too much obscene language for my comfort zone - it is a predictable story but a successful film though, but not for me - it did not inspire us.  My favorite film was Philomena.  I also enjoyed learning about the author of Mary Poppins, and did not know she was born in Australia.  I did read that the film left out many facts about P. L. Travers, but it is a film after all ... Since I had never read the book or seen the Disney movie Mary Poppins I ordered the DVD and just received it.

We ate out several times during the month.  A restaurant in Woodstock, GA, we visit often for breakfast, J. Christopher, had opened a branch in Kennesaw, near the mall where the movie theatre is located, so we had lunch there.  There are interesting art works displayed on the walls.

My husband had the Patty Melt sandwich (grilled burger topped with melted Swiss, caramelized onions, 1000 Isle dressing on rye bread with sauteed potatoes) and I had the soup and salad combo (Bleu cheese, tomato, avocado, red onion and chopped bacon on top a mound of fresh field greens with a grilled pepper and tomato soup with smoked Gouda cheese.)

I was going to call this post "Food in January" since I had taken pictures of meals at restaurants and at home, but after Tuesday snow fall, I changed the title so I could include some snowy pictures taken from my windows.  Today, Thursday, there is still snow on the ground but it will warm up to the 40s F (5 C) this afternoon and the 60s F (15 C) by Saturday.  But getting back to food, we stopped by the French bakery and cafe "La Madeleine" on a cold afternoon for a cup of tea and an almond croissant.  I enjoyed talking French with three African members of the staff, one from Senegal, one from Guinea Conakry and the other from Togo.

Back at home I made up another dish - chicken breast with an assortment of ingredients I had.  I did write the recipe down and called it "Impromptu Chicken" - covered the pieces in flour mixed with herbs, browned them in butter and olive oil and removed them from pan.  Fried green pepper, garlic and shallot on the side, then added some dried tomatoes, white wine, 1/2 and 1/2 cream, mushrooms and herbs.  It was quite good.

On another very cold day we went to Roswell, GA, and had lunch at The Swallow at the Hollow, a BBQ place.  At first we could not find it as it is a barn with a small sign.  Once indoor it looked very rustic but I had heard good reviews about the food.  My husband had a barbecue sandwich and baked beans and I had the Brunswick stew and fried green tomatoes (which were excellent.)  I really enjoyed the meal.  I did notice that most of the clientele was masculine and counted 22 men around us and one woman ... I think they have music at night (DJ and records maybe by the look at the 33 LP collections.)  Their sister restaurant, Greenwood's on Green Street, provide them with their famous pies - we shared a large piece of apple pie.

Last Tuesday as it was so very cold again I thought using the oven would warm up the kitchen nicely.  I decided to bake some brownies but again I had to use what was on hand since I could not drive to the grocery store on the icy roads.  I used semi-sweet chocolate pieces and cocoa powder, butter, 3 eggs, pecans, flour, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamon, with some cream cheese and Greek yogurt.  I also added a good tablespoon of Orange Liqueur I bought in Martinique, but Grand Marnier would work just as well, or orange juice.  I called that "Snow Day Brownies" and if anyone would like the recipe, just send me an email (as shown in my blog profile.)

We went to a couple more restaurants and I created some new dishes but by now I think everyone is stuffed and I'll get to my snowy pictures.  These were taken from behind my windows that have screens attached outside.  It was snowing as you can tell from the top picture.  My cat Cody was watching a little yellow bird with interest.

A woodpecker often flies to the center bird feeder but another bird, brown and black, decided to take shelter under it.  He stayed there, all puffed up, for quite a while.  I am not sure what type of bird he is.

I do not recognize birds well but cardinals are easy to spot with their beautiful bright red color.  I followed the cardinal below and his lady cardinal with my camera.

 There were a multitude of sparrows on the ground (at one time I counted 56!) and at the six bird feeders.  It even looked like they were fighting for the seeds, as you can see in the center picture below.  My husband braved the snow and cold and refilled all the bird feeders and spread more seeds on the ground and on the window sill.

But this brought out a squirrel and he jumped on the roof of the bird feeder and helped himself.

Yesterday our road was covered with snow and ice - no salt truck comes so far out until all the main roads are clear.  I just heard on the News that, as of today, Thursday afternoon January 30th, there are still over 2000 abandoned cars on the roads in our area.  Today though the snow is lovely under the bright afternoon sun - I took this picture from my front porch.

Note:  My next post will be about the snow storm in Metro Atlanta.